Thepipbuzz

This article is about how you can use a custom domain that was purchased through Google / Blogger for something other than a Blogger blog. Blogger makes it very easy for you to buy a "custom" domain name (ie URL) for your blog.   Instead of being www.fred-fish.blogspot.com, you can easily be www.fred-fish.com - which is more appealing for all sorts of reasons. Blogger tells you which domain registrar they're going to use and lets you change to the other one if you want to.  Apart from this, Google hides most of the "technical" domain registration details from you:  you are invited to set up a domain administrator account (in Google Apps) , but even this is optional.   But there may come a time when you want to use your domain for more than just a blog:  eg, Fred may want to use www.fred-fish.com to sell fishing trips or as the public gateway to a massive database of fishing achievements, neither of which are functions that Blogger (easily) provides. To use...

This article is about how you can work out what Google Account to use to check custom domain renewal details from the reminder emails that Google sends in the month before the domain registration expires. Domain registration warning emails If you have a custom domain that you purchased through Blogger (when that service was available), and you have not transferred that registration to another domain registrar, then every year you will get a series of email messages like this: The message text is: Hello, Your domain name, yourDomain.com, is configured for automatic renewal with registrar REGISTRAR (usually enom or goDaddy) on DATE. Each registration renewal is valid for one year. Google will charge your account after the renewal is complete. To ensure uninterrupted service, please follow these directions to update your payment method if needed. If you don�t want to renew your domain name and continue using Google Apps, you should turn off automatic renewal under the �Domain sett...

This article describes options for making link to a blog's old URL automatically point to the blog's new URL after a custom domain change. If you have a blog made with Blogger which has a custom domain, then it's easy enough to switch this blog to use a different domain. Doing this moves both the content (posts and pages) and template (layout, structure, colour-scheme). Often when people make this type of change, they want to set up re-directs so that if anyone clicks an external link to the old custom domain, they are re-directed to the same content on the new domain. For example, www.old-domain.com/current-Page.html should redirect to www.new-domain.com/current-page.html.) With many other website building tools, the .htaccess file for the site lets you set up re-directs like this. But things are little different when you use Blogger. Your Blogspot address VS your custom domain Your blog always has a blogspot addresss - let's call it: www.yourBlog.blogspot.com When yo...

This article explains what "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address" means when you see it while setting up a custom domain for your blog - and what you can do to fix it. What is a custom domain A custom domain is a "real" website address, instead of the free one that you get when you first set up a blog using Blogger.   It's one of he essential steps if you want to use Blogger to make a "real" website .   For example: You initially set up    www.yourBusiness.blogspot.com Then you hear that people will treat you with more respect if you have www.yourBusiness.com  or www.yourBusiness.co.uk.  In this case, www.yourBusiness.com  and   www.yourBusiness.co.uk   are both "custom domains", ie web-addressed without "blogspot.com" or "wordpress.com" at the end of the address. To use www.yourBusiness.com, you need to either use Blogger's custom domain wizard - available under Settings > Basic > Publsh...